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Gold at Sutter’s Mill

Perhaps the most famous gold strike in American history occurred in January 1848 when a man named John Marshall found gold at Sutters Mill in northern California. The find set off a gold rush that reached a frenzied pitch and even attracted prospectors from Europebut it ruined Marshall and John Stutter, the man who owned the land where gold lay for the taking. Sutters land was overrun by gold seekers, his cattle were stolen, and he was driven into bankruptcy. Marshall died drunken and penniless.